Silver and bronze

First Akela Jones on the field, then Ramon Gittens on the track, captured Barbados’ first medals of the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada, today.

Competing at the CIBC Pan Am Park Stadium, Gittens captured the silver medal in the 100 metres in a season-best time of 10.07 seconds running out of Lane 6 just before 9 p.m. tonight. The gold medal was won by Andre De Grasse of Canada in a time of 10.05 seconds. The bronze medal went to Antoine Adams of St Kitts and Nevis who clocked a season-best 10.09 seconds.

Gittens got a good start and was leading the race at about the 65-metre mark before De Grasse, whose father is Barbadian, powered to the finish line over the last 20 metres.

Barbados had another starter in the race in Levi Cadogan who ran out of Lane one. However, Cadogan came out of the blocks rather slowly and was always trying to recapture some momentum. He finished at the back of the field in a time of 10.18.

Gittens’ time was an improvement on his semi-final showing earlier in the day when he clocked a then season-best 10.15 to finish third in his heat, which was won by Trinidad and Tobago’s Keston Bledman. Bledman finished fourth in the final in a time of 10.12.

Cadogan had finished fifth in his semifinal in 10.16 seconds and qualified as the eighth fastest. That semifinal had been won by De Grasse in 9.97 seconds with Adams clocking 10.05 to finish second and Jamaica’s Jason Livermore taking third spot in 10.10. In the final Livermore faded badly to finish seventh in a time of 10.17 seconds.

Earlier in the day Barbados’ track and field queen Akela Jones set a new national mark when she scaled the high bar at a height of 1.91 – a personal best – to take the bronze medal.

Akela Jones took bronze in the high jump. (FP)

It was a clean sweep for the Caribbean in the event as the gold medal went to St Lucia’s Levern Spencer at a height of 1.94, while the silver medal was won by Priscilla Frederick of Antigua and Barbuda. She also cleared the bar at 1.91. Frederick took silver by virtue of fewer knockdowns of the bar than Jones.

In more regional success, 36-year-old Trinidadian Cleopatra Borel won gold in the shot put with a throw of 18.67. Jillian Camarena-Williams was second with a toss of 18.65 while Chile’s Natalia Duco got the bronze medal, throwing the put a distance of 18.01.

There was more glory for the Caribbean in the sprints with Jamaica’s Sherone Simpson stopping the clock at a season-best 10.95 seconds to take the gold medal.

Simpson powered through the last 20 metres to overcome Ecuador’s Angela Tenorio who ran a personal best 10.99 to cop the silver medal. The United States’ Barbara Pierre was third in a time of 11.01 seconds.

Cuba’s Roberto Janet won silver in the hammer throw at a distance of 74.78, behind the United States Kibwe Johnson (75.46) who took the gold medal. Conor McCullough of the United States took the bronze medal with a throw of 73.74. (WG)

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